MICHAEL CUMMING focuses his practice on consumer financial services and bank regulatory matters. He advises banks, broker-dealers, and other financial services companies on complying with financial consumer protection and banking laws. He also defends clients in enforcement investigations and supervisory examinations by federal and state consumer protection agencies and banking authorities. Michael has particular experience in the areas of UDAP/UDAAP, sales practices, and federal and state lending laws. At the federal level, he defends clients in investigations and examinations by the CFPB, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, FINRA, and the prudential banking regulators. Similarly at the state level, Michael has extensive experience representing clients in investigations and examinations by state attorneys general and financial consumer protection agencies such as the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) and the New York DFS. Michael regularly conducts internal investigations for bank and broker-dealer clients to evaluate compliance with and potential risks arising from consumer protection and banking laws. He also has experience working in-house on a multinational bank’s Government Investigations team under a one-year secondment.
Michael has been recognized in the 2021–2025 editions of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America for Criminal Defense: White Collar in Dallas.
While attending the University of Texas School of Law, Michael served as an associate editor of the Texas Law Review and as chairperson of the Legal Research Board. Prior to law school, he held several positions, first as a Series 7 registered representative with a multinational broker-dealer firm and later at a nationwide retailer, where he managed a team of analysts that used statistical methods to develop demand forecasts and hiring plans. Michael was an associate at another global law firm prior to joining Sidley.